The Shomaran Trilogy: The Idomitable Dominated
by Kale.Online
Summary: Book One of the Shomaran Trilogy. 5 months have passed since the defeat of Ultimecia. A new evil is slowly rising, one which our heroes and heroines must overcome in order to protect the world. Can our young SeeDs face up to this new challenge?
1. The Indomitable Dominated: Chapter One

Chapter One 

The flame flickered and died. Lost in complete darkness, the man dropped to the ground in despair. There was no hope of escape now. He could hear the serpent slithering towards him. The image of a beautiful lady appeared in his mind, as he felt the serpent slither around his body. Slowly, its fangs sank into his neck. With his dying breath, he whispered, "Goodbye, Edea."  
  
* * *  
  
"Everyone has arrived, Headmaster."  
  
Cid woke up with a start. He looked around him; he was still in his office, safe and sound. He reached up and felt his neck; he could almost feel the wound there. What was that dream he just had? It had felt so real. He blinked a few times and took in a deep breath. His head was throbbing, and he was drenched with sweat.  
  
"Headmaster, are you alright?" Squall asked. Cid turned his chair around. Whatever that dream was, he would have to deal with it later; he had more important matters to attend to first.   
  
In front of his desk stood the six SeeDs he was most proud of: Squall Leonhart, Zell Dincht, Irvine Kinneas, Quistis Trepe, Selphie Tilmitt and Rinoa Heartilly. Rinoa had joined Balamb Garden as a SeeD after their return from the battle with Ultimecia five months ago.  
  
Cid sighed as memories from that time period came back to him. The six people standing in front of him right now had saved the world – no, the Universe, from Ultimecia, a sorceress from the future. Now, five months after the defeat of Ultimecia, the world was at peace.  
  
Cid got up from his chair and took a piece of paper off his desk and passed it to Squall.  
  
"I called you all here today because I have a new mission for you. Scouts from Centra Garden have uncovered a possibility of a hidden settlement in Centra. Ellone dispatched two SeeDs to investigate further, but it has been four days, and they have yet to return, neither have they made contact with Centra Garden, which is why Ellone has requested help from Balamb Garden. The six of you are to take the Ragnarok and fly over to Centra Garden, where you will be briefed further about this mission. Your main priority would be to rescue the two SeeDs, if need be, and help complete their investigation of the existence of this hidden city. That is all. Good luck."  
  
The six SeeDs turned around and left Cid's office and entered the lift. Squall briefly read through what was on the piece of paper. It was a letter from Ellone, requesting help from Balamb Garden. Squall glanced at the emblem of Centra Garden at the top of the letter. Centra Garden; it had not even existed five months ago, and now it was a full fledged SeeD academy. Centra Garden was part of a large project that was started a week after the defeat of Ultimecia. Balamb Garden, Esthar Garden, Galbadia Garden, Trabia Garden, Centra Garden and Lunar Garden were all SeeD training academies stationed around the world. After the defeat of Ultimecia, it was decided that SeeD would become the force with the responsibility of protecting the world and maintaining the peace, and hence, a Garden was built on every continent to cater to each of the continents' residents. Galbadia Garden and Trabia Garden were re-built, Esthar Garden and Centra Garden finished construction about one-and-a-half months ago, and Lunar Garden was a new wing connected to the New Lunar Base, now stationed just outside the Moon's orbit. Esthar Garden was constructed over the abolished Sorceress Memorial, and Centra Garden was built over the old orphanage. Incidentally, Centra Garden also had an extra wing acting as an orphanage, and most of the children there joined the Garden as SeeD trainees after they reach a certain age. Ellone was now the Headmistress of Centra Garden. Also, all the Gardens had the ability to transform into mobile forms, but were currently deployed on land.   
  
"Yo! Earth to Squall! Earth to Squall! Do you copy? Snap out of it, Squall!"  
Squall blinked. Zell's voice had cut off his train of thought. They were all staring at him; he then realized where he was – he was standing inside the lift, and they were all waiting for him to come out. Quickly, he stepped out into the lift lobby.  
  
"What were you thinking of Squall? And concentrating so hard at it too; you wouldn't by any chance be fantasizing about Rinoa, would you?" Irvine teased. Squall's face turned a bright red, and he looked down towards the ground, suddenly very interested in his shoes.  
  
"Naw, he couldn't be – I mean, didn't they do it just last night? I could hear them from across the dormitory." Zell snickered. Now it was Rinoa's turn to blush and look down. They continued laughing as they walked out into the sunlight, heading to the airfield just outside Balamb Garden, where the Ragnarok was.  
  
As they walked towards the airfield, they saw Seifer and a group of students training in a field not far from the main gates of Balamb Garden. As usual, Fujin and Raijin were with him.  
  
After the defeat of Ultimecia, Seifer had returned to Balamb Garden, He deeply regretted his misdeeds, serving as a knight for Ultimecia, but Edea told him that he had been under her mind control. Even so, he was still determined to be punished, and Cid met out his punishment: he was to become a gunblade instructor for the SeeDs training at Balamb Garden.  
  
"Yo Seifer!" Zell called out. Seifer turned around and nodded at them. He gave Fujin and Raijin a few quick instructions and left them to spar with the students as he walked over to where Squall and the others were.  
  
"Hey, chicken-wuss!" Seifer laughed as he dodged Zell's punch.  
  
"You people off on a mission?" he asked. They briefly described their assignment to him.  
  
"Cool. Well, anyway, I've got to get back to teaching those students, Good luck to all of you. See you around." He turned around and walked back to the field, as the others boarded the Ragnarok.   



	2. The Indomitable Dominated: Chapter Two

Chapter Two   
  
"Oh Squall, I'm so glad to see you! Zell, Quisty, Sefie, Irvy and Rinoa too!" Ellone ran towards them, giving each of them a hug. The Ragnarok had landed only a few moments ago, and Ellone had come out to meet them.   
  
"Hello Sis. So how's the situation like now? Have you heard from the 2 SeeDs?" Squall asked.   
  
"Still as serious as ever, Squall. Alright, let's talk in my office." They walked into Centra Garden, heading for Ellone's office.  
  
Inside her office, Ellone briefly told them everything they had found out so far.  
  
"About a week back, our scouts found something strange on one of the cliffs in Centra. From here, you can see that beyond the cliff lies the ocean, but the view from the cliff itself –" she broke off and pushed a button on the keypad on her desk, and a display screen was lowered down against one of the walls.   
  
"The scouts managed to capture a video of the view from the cliff. Here, take a look yourself." She pulled out a keyboard from under her desk and quickly entered in a command, playing the video.  
  
They saw a barren wasteland on the other side of the cliff. At certain points in time, it would flicker, and the ocean would be there again, at other times, it would show the wasteland moving like the waves of the ocean.  
  
"We are assuming that this is some sort of visual camouflage device, similar to the one in Esthar, which is what leads us to believe that it is probably hiding an entire city. Something must have caused their camouflage device to malfunction, causing the view from the cliff to look like that."  
  
Ellone paused and took a drink from a glass of water on her desk, beforing entering another command on her keyboard. Two photos were brought up on the display; one of the photos was of a man of about nineteen, with short, black hair, dark, well-tanned skin and brown eyes. He was wearing a SeeD uniform. The other photo was of a woman, about seventeen, with long, blond hair, fair skin and blue eyes. She was also in SeeD uniform.  
  
"Kerv and Maria. These are the the two SeeDs I sent four days ago. They have yet to return, neither have they made any communication of any sort with us. I fear something bad has happened to them."  
  
Ellone slumped back into her chair and sighed. It was only then that Squall noticed the large eyebags under her eyes. He stood up.  
  
"I see you haven't been sleeping, Sis. You should go and get some rest, leave this matter to us; we know what to do. Quistis, escort her to her room, make sure she's comfortable, then meet us back at the Ragnarok. Irvine, Selphie, go over to Centra Garden's supply centre and get a fresh stock of supplies – Hi-Potions, Elixirs, Holy Wars, the usual stuff. You should roughly know what we will need. Zell, get back to the Ragnarok and prepare it for launch. Rinoa, follow me; we will go over to the training centre and get the instructors here to transfer to us as much of their magic as possible, we will probably need a healthy supply of Auras and Curagas and other spells."  
  
Ellone smiled weakly.  
  
"Thanks Squall. I knew I could trust you with this." Squall smiled.  
  
"Oh, by the way, Ellone, just out of curiosity, why did you send your two scouts out in the first place? And why didn't you use your ability to find out what happened to the two SeeDs?"   
  
"I was wondering when you would ask that, Squall. Actually, I sent the two scouts to capture a Chocobo back to let some of the children ride on; and I did try using my ability to find out what happened to Kerv and Maria. I could follow their memories only right up to the point before the entered the wasteland though. Whatever's hiding the city is blocking me from seeing whatever's on the other side of the cliff too."  
  
Squall pondered for a moment. Something about what Ellone had just said was nagging at him, but he couldn't pin-point what. He would give more thought to it later.   
  
"Well, we're off Sis. See you soon."  
  
"Thanks again. Good luck to all of you." 

* * *

"Kerv, wake up. Thet are coming again." Kerv opened his eyes. Maria was looking down at him. She moved back to let him get up.  
  
"How's your leg? Can you run?" she asked.  
  
"It's not like I have a choice, but of course I can't run; my entire leg bone is shattered. How far away are they?" he replied. A loud roar answered his question.  
  
"Damn-it, they can't be more than a kilometre away. C'mon, let's move." Kerv cursed as he pushed himself off the ground. Immense pain rushed through his entire left leg as his body weight came down upon it. He bit his lip and tried to endure it. He squinted his eyes, and then pointed.  
"Let's head for there. There might be a cave there that we can hide in." He swung his pack over his shoulder and started limping. Maria followed close behind him, adjusting her sling. Her right arm was also broken. The two of them had been injured badly, but at least Maria could still run; Kerv was at a great disadvantage.   
  
"Fuck, if only I had at least one bloody Curaga spell!" Maria sweared. They had used up all their life magic and items after their first encounter with the two Weapons. A second encounter had left them badly injured, and they have been on the run for the last four days.   
  
Kerv cursed silently to himself, as memories from the last four days flashed through his mind. After entering the wasteland, they had run into two huge monsters. Upon casting Scan, they realized that these two monsters, Toma Weapon and Doma Weapon, were completely out of their league; they had HP counts of over three million, and were immune to all magic and poison attacks. Their attack power could not be determined through the Scan magic, but it was unnecessary; they had already gotten a taste of it. They had somehow managed to dodge all the more powerful attacks, and were only hit by minor attacks from the two Weapons; and even this had left them heavily injured. Knowing they would not be able to defeat these two monstrosities, they had been on the run for the last four days, avoiding the Weapons and trying to find the cliff that they had come from.   
  
"Made it!" Maria breathed a sigh of relief, as the two entered the cave. Hopefully they would be safe from the Weapons here. Kerv sank to the ground; his left leg was already bleeding faster. He took a drink from his water canteen. Maria sat down beside him and he put his arm around her shoulders.  
  
"Don't worry, we should be safe here."   
  
Suddenly, there was a large bang and the cave trembled. A loud roar came from outside the cave. Kerv pulled out his daggers from his pack and got up. Ignoring the pain in his left leg, he limped to the mouth of the cave.   
  
"Go as far back into the cave as possible, Maria, and stay there. Hopefully you will be safe there. I will try to hold them back for as long as possible."  
  
"But –"  
  
"No buts Maria. Just go. I will try to push them back a little, then I will blow the cave entrance down. Try and find a safer spot further back in the cave, and set up some light there. I will get there as soon as I can. Now go!" Kerv watched as Maria ran down the cave. He turned to face the mouth of the cave again, and started limping towards it. He could see the two Weapons just outside the cave. Silently, he casted Aura on himself. Ignoring the pains from his wounds, he launched himself at the two Weapons.

* * *

"Ready guys?" Selphie questioned.  
  
"Let's do it!" They replied in unision. The Ragnarok accelerated past the cliff. Immediately, they were caught in heavy air turbulence. The Ragnarok shook violently as strong winds tried to push it back to the other side of the cliff.   
  
"It looks like we won't be able to fly here! I'll try to land!" Selphie shouted. The Ragnarok dived towards the ground and ploughed through the sand before coming to a stop.   
  
"We'll have to search for them on foot." Squall said. He clipped his gunblade to his belt and slung his pack over his shoulder and walked out of the Ragnarok, with the others just behind him. 

* * *

Kerv jumped back, avoiding another blast of energy from the Weapons, before launching a series of kicks at their heads. Toma Weapon smacked him back onto the ground and pounced on him. He stabbed the underside of the Weapon numerous times with his daggers, but the blades could not penetrate the thick hide of the Weapon. He felt its teeth sink into him as the Weapon lifted him up with its mouth. He was thrown to the side, and his head hit against the ground. He got up again, and a trickle of blood dripped over his right eyelid. He charged again, but Doma Weapon slammed him back against the rock surface. He could no longer endure the pain. Kerv sank down onto the ground, his world turning black.

* * *

"What the hell? Weapons! And those things are bigger than Omega Weapon!" Zell shouted.   
  
"There's someone there! Oh God, he's going to be slaughtered, we have to help him!" They ran towards the two Weapons.  
  
Shortly after leaving the Ragnarok, they had heard sounds of a fight and headed towards the source, and discovered the two Weapons fighting Kerv. Pulling out their weapons, the six SeeDs launched into battle.   
  
"Cerebus!" Zell summoned the three-headed dog, who dashed into the fight and pulled the unconscious man out.   
  
"It's Kerv! He's in very bad shape!" Zell took a quick look at the victim of the Weapons' ferocious attacks.   
  
"Eden!"  
  
"Tonberry King!"  
  
"Jumbo Cactus!"  
  
"Doomtrain!" Rinoa, Selphie, Irvine and Quistis summoned their Guardian Forces. The two Weapons were hit numerous times.  
  
"Aura!" Squall casted the spell on himself and jumped in, performing his Renzokuken attack on the two Weapons. Rinoa summoned Eden a second time and attacked one of the Weapons while Squall struck the other with his Lion Heart attack. The Weapons roared one more time before retreating from battle. Quistis casted Scan on them before they were out of sight.  
  
"Oh God, we barely scratched them! Their statistics completely surpass Omega Weapon!" she exclaimed. The six SeeDs sat down on the ground, panting hard. Why had Toma Weapon and Doma Weapon retreated from the battle, even though they were at an obvious advantage? They could have easily taken out the SeeDs with their strength.  
  
"Kerv! Kerv! Damn-it, I shouldn't have left you, you idiot!" A woman came running towards them. She was Maria. She knelt down beside Kerv, crying.   
  
"You said you would come as soon as you could, you liar!" she sobbed. Quistis and Rinoa sat beside her, trying to calm her down. Squall casted multiple Curaga spells, healing Kerv's wounds.   
  
"Maria, I presume? Ok, now that the both of you are here, I think we should head back for the Ragnarok. The search for the hidden city will have to wait, and with the two Weapons around, we wouldn't want to stick around here much longer anyway. Let's get you two back to Centra Garden." Squall said. With Irvine and Zell carrying Kerv, they headed back for the Ragnarok.   
  
Back inside the Ragnarok, Squall introduced himself and the others to Maria and Kerv, who had finally regained consciousness and was back on his own two feet. Kerv described to them about the events from the last four days.   
  
The flight back to Centra Garden was rather quiet, as most of them were still recovering from their shock after the encounter with the two Weapons.  



End file.
